


Building A Nest

by Checklatechippancakes



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's
Genre: Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Platonic Cuddling, Pre-Canon, Sibling Bonding, even as a child Jack is bitch
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-04
Updated: 2018-08-04
Packaged: 2019-06-21 20:13:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,498
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15565557
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Checklatechippancakes/pseuds/Checklatechippancakes
Summary: Crow doesn't speak. He frequently follows the wrong people home. But when Martha and two seemingly familiar boys reach out to him, he's willing to take their hand.





	Building A Nest

**Author's Note:**

  * For [kiite](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kiite/gifts).



“ _He’s so quiet!_ ”

“ _Did anyone actually pick up on his name?_ ”

“ _Maybe something…_ **_bad_ ** _happened to him._ ”

Crow sat at Martha’s table, eating a sliced apple while the other kids in the doorway whispered about him. He could hear it all. He… _mostly_ understood what they were saying. It was bad, at least from what he got.

* * *

 

Martha took him in today. It wasn’t the first time she tried, but it _was_ the first time Crow would come out from his hiding place and take her hand back to her place. Crow followed the wrong people far too many times. Any adult he met could have the same vile intentions as the ones who hurt him in the past. Somehow, Martha’s persistence seemed genuine and nonthreatening. While it had the same potential to hurt him, something was different.

Maybe it was that she brought two of her kids. One with black hair and one with gold hair. The gold hair one clung to Martha’s dress, but the black haired one approached Crow. He said words Crow didn’t understand, but Crow perked up at “cards”, which the other child nodded at, still mostly hiding his face. Crow shoved his cards into his vest pocket and tentatively got out of spot in the alley.

Crow didn’t live very close to Martha’s house, but she was still willing to walk all this way. The blond boy was on her left, with Crow and the black haired boy on the right. That boy was on the other side of Crow, as if they were all enveloping him.

It was about dark when they got there. Everyone had already had dinner, but Crow’s stomach growled as Martha talked to a man. She said something about “bath” and “doesn’t talk” but Crow didn’t react. Martha ushered him to sit at a table with many chairs, saying she would be back in a bit.

* * *

 

“He might be mute,” Martha told the kids, Crow looking up at the familiar voice. She moved her hand nearby his head. Seeing no protest, she gently petted his hair. “It could be that something happened to him, or perhaps he just doesn’t know _how_ to talk.” She took his clean plate back to the kitchen. “If he learns, that’s great. If he doesn’t, I still love him, just like any of you.”

The kids in the doorway were shooed off to go play while Crow remained seated, unsure what to do. He heard footsteps. Fast ones. The were coming towards him. Crow shook. Someone was after him again. He moved to get out of the chair to hide under the table-

The black haired boy ran into the room, stopping abruptly, seeing Crow. The one with gold hair, behind him, slammed into him, unable to stop himself in time. “What was that fo-” The black haired boy stopped him, pointing at Crow.

He slowly approached him. While still unsettled, it was the same two boys who took him in. Crow probably didn’t need to run. “My name is Yuusei,” he offered. “ _You-say_ ”

“Yuusei,” the blond one spoke up, “he can hear you, he just doesn’t know what-” He paused, looking around, as if he was afraid someone was coming over. “-the _heck_ you’re saying.”

‘Yuusei’ lowered his gaze, staring at the other boy. He turned back to Crow. “That’s Jack. Jah-ck. Martha ap- apoi…” He looked to Jack for help, who did not return it. “Martha asked us to watch over and take care of you. Kay?” Crow was silent. ‘Jack’ crossed his arms and rolled his eyes, but ‘Yuusei’ offered a hand. While confused, Crow took it faster than before, letting Yuusei slowly lead him upstairs. Jack was faster and further ahead of them, occasionally turning around and pouting, waiting for them to catch up.

They lead him to a room that had multiple beds, but otherwise, it was very bare. The window was in tact and closed, but the curtains had small stains and was torn in spots. Of course, _anything_ was an improvement to an alley that was susceptible to weather and bad people. Yuusei sat on one bed, Jack joining him, lying on his stomach. Yuusei patted to the spot between him and Jack, Jack soon joining in on the pat. Eventually, Crow came over, sitting as well.

The bed was somewhat warm and sunk where he and the others sat. It was infinitely more comfortable than concrete. Yuusei turned to him, Jack looking up. “What’s your name?” Yuusei finally asked.

Crow reached into his vest pocket, pulling out one of the cards. He pointed at the picture wordlessly.

Yuusei crossed his arms in thought. “Hmm… Raven?”

“That’s a girl’s name!” Jack chided.

Crow shook his head. That wasn’t it. ‘Raven’ didn’t sound right at all.

He scratched his head in thought. “Is ‘Crow’ a name?” Yuusei asked after some thought.

Jack shrugged. “Never heard of anyone with that kinda name-”

Crow’s head frantically nodded. ‘Crow’. That was it. That was the right name. He tugged on Yuusei’s jacket, even though Yuusei could tell Crow was implying ‘yes’.

“But…’ Jack said, now feeling unable to say ‘Crow’ wasn’t exactly a typical name, “Yuusei isn’t exactly a regular common name either…?”

It was nearing bedtime and a few of the other kids were whispering around about Crow. Martha separated the kids by age for the beds, mostly for convenience sake. Jack and Yuusei only shared one since Jack was the oldest child, and the average age at the orphanage was about 6.

Yuusei got up and picked up something under one of the pillows, spreading them out on the bed where he was originally sitting. Duel Monster cards. Yuusei did mention having cards earlier, didn’t he? He spread out 8 cards. Every single one Crow had never seen before. The star numbers at the top of the cards gradually got bigger with each card. “How old are you?” Yuusei asked, pointing to the last one. “I’m eight. Jack is nine, but we don’t have any cards big enough for him.”

Jack crossed his arms. “I drew that dragon card, and _it’s_ level nine.”

“That doesn’t count!” Yuusei snapped. Jack stuck his tongue out and Yuusei did the same in retaliation.

Crow got off the bed and looked at the cards. What was ‘age’ anyways? He tried his best not to shake or imply he didn’t know. Showing weakness had lead to a slew of misfortunes for Crow in the past. But maybe this wasn’t a question that could have a wrong answer, even just for a bit?

He pointed at the card to the left of Yuusei. “Seven,” Yuusei narrated.

“Seven,” Jack repeated. Crow was confused. What was wrong with the number he picked? “He’s one of the little kids.” He hopped off the bed to where Yuusei was.

Despite his face looking like it didn’t agree with his word, Yuusei said “We should tell Martha.” The two turned to the door. “It’s better he be with kids his a-”

Both were tugged back. They turned to see Crow had a firm grasp on each of their sleeves.

Jack attempted to get free. “Crow let _go_. You’re too little.”

Crow’s head hung, his grip tightening on the weak fabric as he shook his head side to side.

“You’re acting like a little baby!” Jack said loudly, yanking his arm away. Just as Jack was going to say another thing, Crow let go of Yuusei, looking at them. His face was red and tears slid down his freckled cheeks. The only thing holding him back from breaking down sobbing was how tightly he was squeezing his face. He didn’t want to cry, but he was. “Crow-”

Yuusei wrapped him in the hug, letting Crow rest his chin on his shoulder. Despite Crow being jumpy about uninitiated contact, Crow didn’t want to pull away. “We’re sorry,” Yuusei said. Yuusei aimlessly tried to grab Jack behind him, who sighed, joining the hug. Yuusei turned to Jack. “We promised Martha.” Jack wordlessly agreed.

The two pulled away from Crow, Yuusei touching his forehead to Crow’s as he wiped his tears away and hushed his hiccups. Yuusei collected the cards from the bed, tucking them back under the pillow. He let Crow get in the bed first, Jack and Yuusei getting in either side of him.

Crow was circled by the warmth, blinking as the lights suddenly went out and the other kids got in bed. The soft pitter-patter of rain picked up, mixing in with the sounds of snoring from the other children. He would be miserable outside right now. Not to mention there was a chance he wouldn’t have gotten food like he got from Martha. He looked both sides of him, seeing both Yuusei and Jack were already fast asleep. Yuusei’s face was buried in Crow’s hair, while Jack’s arms were wrapped around one of Crow’s. He yawned softly, nestling himself into the bed. “ _Home…_ ” he whispered, falling asleep.


End file.
